Safety tip: Stay safe this holiday season (December 19, 2018 Hotline)

Winter holidays are a time for families and friends to get together. But that also means a greater risk for fire. Following a few simple tips will ensure a happy and fire-safe holiday season.

Inspect electrical decorations for damage before use. Cracked or damaged sockets, loose or bare wires, and loose connections may cause a serious shock or start a fire.

Do not overload electrical outlets. Overloaded electrical outlets and faulty wires are a common cause of holiday fires. Avoid overloading outlets and plug only one high-wattage appliance into each outlet at a time. Never connect more than three strings on incandescent lights. More than three strands may not only blow a fuse, but can also cause a fire.

Don’t light luminarias or farolitos if windy conditions are expected, and do not place them on flammable surfaces like dry grass.

Use battery-operated candles. Candles start almost half of home decoration fires.

Keep combustibles at least three feet from heat sources. A heat source that was too close to the decoration was a factor in half of home fires that began with decorations.

Protect cords from damage. To avoid shock or fire hazards, cords should never be pinched by furniture, forced into small spaces such as doors or windows, placed under rugs, located near heat sources or attached by nails or staples.

Check decorations for certification label. Decorations not bearing a label from an Independent testing laboratory such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Canadian Standards Associations (CSA) or Intertek (ETL) have not been tested for safety and could be hazardous.

Stay in the kitchen when something is cooking. Unattended cooking equipment is the leading cause of home cooking fires.

Turn off, unplug and extinguish all decorations when going to sleep or leaving the house. Unattended candles are the cause of one in five home candle fires. Half of home fire deaths occur between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.